A Place of Mercy

Entrance to Bethesda Academy

Bethesda means “House of Mercy”. It is the name given to an orphanage founded near Savannah in 1740. The great evangelist named George Whitefield saw the many orphans in Savannah when he arrived in 1738 and he decided his Christianity called for him to do something about this. So as he was starting the Great Awakening with his sermons around America he was also working to found the first orphanage in America. Many historians credit Whitefield’s preaching his message of individual salvation received in grace versus by election of a select few was one of the key philosophical and theological concepts that helped ignite the American Revolution.

So when he was not reviving the souls of America and planting the seeds of revolution in the heart of Americans, he was collecting money to assist those in need. Bethesda sits a few miles outside of Savannah in a rural setting. One of Savannah’s early leaders was one of its first residence: Lachlan McIntosh. While the children grew most of the orphanage food, the enterprise was more expensive than anticipated, and Whitefield went into debt. Benjamin Franklin suggested that due to the scarcity of workmen and materials in Georgia, it might be better to move the orphanage and its children to Philadelphia. Whitefield refused to move the orphanage because his contributors donated money specifically for the Georgia project.Whitefield died in 1770 and left the orphanage to the Countess of Huntingdon. She sent teachers and missionaries to care for the orphans. Despite a fire in 1773 and the American Revolution which kept Savannah in a flux throughout the war the orphanage survived.
The countess died in 1791 and the state of Georgia took the orphanage under it swings. Georgia appointed trustees to manage the orphanage. They started a school in the early eighteen hundreds. The orphanage struggled throughout the nineteenth century but continued in some form throughout the Civil War and  other hard times.

In 1900, Bethesda was re-named the Bethesda Home for Boys. Its mission was to serve as a home for troubled boys or whose families for whatever reasons could not support them. This stayed its mission until 1992 when a school was started which allowed not only residents of the home attend but children from the general public attend. In 2011, the school was officially re-branded as Bethesda Academy, reflecting the school’s commitment to college preparatory learning.

The rebranding was an attempt to emphasize that they were not an orphanage anymore but a private boarding and day school for boys in grades 6-12. They hold dear George Whitefield’s founding mission to teach “a love for God, a love of learning and a strong work ethic.”

Bethesda over the years has served more than 12,000 boys. Many becoming leaders in the Savannah Community. Today on the over 650 acres of land they house boys. Bethesda Academy features a wildlife management program, an organic farming program and a nationally-ranked chess team, civic groups, and a wide variety of athletic teams. They have a weekly farmer’s market. The William H. Ford, Sr. Museum & Visitors Center with 2,200 square feet of exhibition space devoted to Bethesda’s rich history It stands as testimony to one renown preacher and his love for the children of Georgia.

 
 
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Whitefield Chapel on Bethesda Campus